Executive Summary In the two years following the adoption of the Glob- al Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the Global Com- pact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM) at the UN General Assembly in December 2018, the environment in which governments and UN agen- cies are expected to translate commitments from paper into reality has shifted radically. Devised in the wake of the 2015–16 large movements of refugees and other migrants to Europe, the compacts now face both new and intensified challenges, including those linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasingly severe impacts of climate change. This heightens the pressure while also making it more difficult for the compacts to be used in guiding and motivating states to deliver on their commitments. At the same time, these forces increase the impor- tance—and the potential benefits—of using the compacts’ frameworks for international cooperation. The environment in which governments and UN agencies are expected to translate commitments from paper into reality has shifted radically. The GCM and the GCR are very different instruments: the GCR is an innovative approach embedded in an established, if fragile, international regime while the GCM breaks new ground as an agreement ne- gotiated by states in a policy arena that previously had resisted consensus. So far, the twin compacts have lived up to some of the expectations placed upon them and fallen short on others. Even where not always explicitly referenced, the GCM and GCR provide common language for conversations about migration and displacement, and both have pushed the envelope in their own ways. Among other things, the GCM includes a commitment to provide migrants with access to basic services. The GCR shifts the focus from the obligations of refu- gee-hosting countries toward shared responsibility and a commitment to think through how other states can and should support host countries more effectively. But the compacts have not been used to address migration crises. The desire of donor gov- ernments to use them to raise the profile of migra- tion and displacement issues in conversations with partner countries has remained unfulfilled, as have low- and middle-income countries’ hopes that the compacts would generate greater financial support to help them handle such issues. Whether due to the urgency of emergency situations or a lack of clarity over the pacts’ added value, they have not served as guides when decisions needed to be made quickly, such as in responding to Venezuelans’ exodus to neighboring countries. The Divergent Trajectories of the Global Migration and Refugee Compacts Implementation amid Crisis DECEMBER 2020 BY LENA KAINZ, NATALIA BANULESCU-BOGDAN, AND KATHLEEN NEWLAND POLICY BRIEF
The Divergent Trajectories of the Global Migration and Refugee Compacts
Jul 11, 2023
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